Review in The Independent.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Here's a musical that gives a whole new meaning to the term "star vehicle". Leaving those old showbiz crocks Genevieve and the Yellow Rolls-Royce sulking in their garages, the upwardly mobile Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a car that needs to be not just roadworthy, but skyworthy. Filmic special effects pulled that off in the 1969 movie. This much-anticipated new stage version is therefore duty-bound to create an equivalent (ideally, greater) frisson with before-your-very-eyes stage magic.<P> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/reviews/story.jsp?story=287677" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A>

<B>Chitty Chitty Bang Bang</B><BR>By Lisa Martland in The Stage<P> <BR>Never work with children and animals, so the saying goes. Add special effects and most performers would be forgiven for running a mile. Yet the vast cast of this children's classic, translated to the stage from its 1968 screen incarnation, embraces all the above to produce a winning combination. <P>Director Adrian Noble and Jeremy Sams - who has adapted and occasionally improved upon Ian Fleming's original tale - face a challenge to bring such a well-loved movie to life. However, fans of the film will not be disappointed, while a new generation is likely to be captivated by the experience.<P><A HREF="http://www.thestage.co.uk/paper/0217/0201.shtml" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

Acclaimed author Howard Jacobson is not amused!<P><B>Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we loathe you</B><BR>By Howard Jacobson in The Independent<P><BR>Of the sorrows that afflict the writer, none are less likely to win him sympathy than those that attend the publication of his latest book. Ill-positioned reviews, unflattering publicity photographs, being mistaken on the underground for someone else who has a book out – who cares! He who would be a writer must take the kicks with the halfpence.<P>I accept this callousness myself as the price I pay for an easy and opinionated life. But just once in a while we writers have to go to such extremes to drum up notice – agreeing to read and review another writer's book, for example, in return for some fleeting mention of our own, or attending, on the same principle, a West End show we would ordinarily suck ratsbane rather than sit through – that it is only common humanity to feel for us.<P><A HREF="http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=289381" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><p>[This message has been edited by Joanne (edited April 28, 2002).]

This is Lily Savage as no one has ever seen her before. Clad head to toe in black, face malicious and pale, Lily's creator Paul O'Grady is to take to the London stage in the hugely successful Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Michael Ball has extended his contract starring as ‘Caractacus Potts’ in the smash hit stage musical “CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG” at the London Palladium by four months until 19 July.

From 17 March, Caroline Sheen will star as ‘Truly Scrumptious’, Victor Spinetti as ‘Baron Bomburst’, Sandra Dickinson as ‘Baroness Bomburst’ and Derek Griffiths as ‘The Child Catcher’. Anton Rodgers will remain in the cast as ‘Grandpa Potts’. Caroline Sheen has recently appeared in the West End musicals “The Witches of Eastwick” and “Mamma Mia!”. Victor Spinetti is a West End veteran, whose shows include “Expresso Bongo”, “Candide” and “Oh! What A Lovely War”. His films include “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Help!” and “The Magical Mystery Tour”. Sandra Dickinson has recently been seen in the London stage productions of “The Graduate”, “Orpheus Descending” and “A Streetcar Named Desire” and she is well known for her television work. Derek Griffiths is nationally known as a children’s television presenter and his theatre work includes seasons at the RSC and the Royal Exchange. His film credits include “Up Pompeii” and “Fierce Creatures”.

“CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG” has music & lyrics by Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman. The film has been adapted for the stage by Jeremy Sams. The show is designed by Anthony Ward, has musical staging and choreography by Gillian Lynne and is directed by Adrian Noble.

“CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG” has just been nominated for 3 Laurence Olivier Awards, including ‘Best New Musical’. This is the first stage adaptation of the internationally known hit film made from Ian Fleming’s classic story. The London Palladium production, which has sensational sets and stunning special effects, opened on 16 April last year to great reviews and record-breaking business and continues to play to capacity houses.

Performance times are Mondays to Saturdays at 7.30pm, with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm. Ticket prices range from £15.00-£40.00, with Wednesday matinee tickets priced from £10.00-£37.50. Tickets are available from the London Palladium Box Office on 0870 890 1108. “CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG” is currently booking until September 2003.

Chitty reprimanded over injury incident by Jeremy Austin for The Stage

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's management has been criticised by Equity for its handling of a "very serious incident" that saw a cast member suffer a head injury when a prop exploded during a show.

Actor Peter Gallagher was under a hair-cutting device during a scene in the multi-million pound West End hit production when it exploded, causing him an injury to his head. The performance was stopped immediately and the curtain brought down. After being checked by a member of the production team, Gallagher went back onstage to continue but claims he has no memory of the incident.

A year and a half in, and the magical car shows no signs of running out of gas. It's often (perhaps even usually) the case that long-running musicals gradually misplace their spirit of fun and become either stony-faced drill sessions or knowing, winking circuses. In the hands of a new cast it remains deliciously clever without growing cloying

MAYBE nuts and bolts have come loose since it opened in April last year, but Adrian Noble’s £6.5 million production of this cloying musical about a flying car is looking unroadworthy. It’s an unpleasant mix of sweet and sour, its sentimentality offset by xenophobia and cynicism: who cares about human characters when we can wheel in the mechanical star?

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - London Palladium By John Martland for The Stage

They were clapping along to the title tune before the show even started and at the end, children and adults alike rose to their feet acclaiming the new cast that is taking this hit musical well into its second year.

Just as in the original film, the car is the star, soaring, swivelling and floating its way around the stage, while Anthony Ward's designs – the Potts' windmill home, sweet factory, toyshop and a horse with a cutaway side so that you can actually see the works – are simply splendid too.

A real oddity - a comp for a box of CDs of the film paired with a really bad review just to encourage you to enter. Ho-ho! Win a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang limited edition boxset From The Daily Telegraph

Charles Spencer's review of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium last year From the glimpses I'd had of it during children's parties where the little loves were either being sick on the carpet or spilling fizzy drinks over it, I'd concluded that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a bit of a dud. The apparently interminable 1968 movie, adapted by Roald Dahl from a story by Ian Fleming, lacks the charm, the wit and the poignancy of its great predecessor, Mary Poppins; and it ends with an infuriating cop-out when most of the action is revealed as mere fantasy.

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